Object Details
Maker
Attributed to Gerrard Hopkins (American, 1742-1800; working 1767-1800)
Date
ca. 1775
Geography
United States: Maryland: Baltimore
Culture
North American
Medium
wood; mahogany; southern yellow pine; spruce
Dimensions
Overall: 39 1/2 in x 24 in x 21 in; 100.33 cm x 60.96 cm x 53.34 cm
Provenance
By descent from Francis Scott Key (1779-1843). The chairs paper labels show this set s descent. Jane Frances Hunt Pendleton (Mrs. Arthur Tilghman Brice, 1860-1950) was a daughter of Alice Key (Mrs. George Hunt Pendleton, 1824-1886), the second youngest of the eleven children of Francis Scott Key and his wife, Mary Tayloe Lloyd. At least two of the chairs passed to Jane F. Brice s daughter, Julie (Mrs. Herman B. Chubb, 1896-1953). These two chairs belonged to Mrs. Chubb s daughters, Julia Frances and Sarah Jane (Mrs. Stephen Gummersall and Mrs. Raymond Cox, respectively). It is likely, then, that the first owners of the chairs were Francis Scott Key s parents, John Ross Key (1734-1821) and Ann Phoebe Charlton (1756-1830) of Frederick County, Maryland, who married in 1775. To the Fine Arts Committee through purchase
Inscriptions
Label attached to seat rail identified the chairs with Key through his great grand-daughter Julia B. Chubb. Key probably inherited them from his father John Ross Key, a revolutionary officer who is supposed to have owned a Chippendale armchair now in the Henry Francis Winterthur Museum.
Credit Line
Funds given by an Anonymous Donor
Collection
The Diplomatic Reception Rooms, U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C.
Accession Number
RR-1973.0002.1